Activity 1:

1. By show of hands, ask students if they like milk, cheese, ice cream, hamburger, and steaks. Ask students the following questions:
   • Where do you think these products come from?
   • Do these products come from the same type of cows or different?
   • Which products are produced by a dairy cow?
   • Which products are produced by a beef cow?
2. Allow students time to explore their positions. Refer back to the KWL chart and remind students of their previous responses. Add any changes or different responses not mentioned prior to the beginning of the lesson.
3. Have students suggest ways in which cows could be different (coat color, gender, weight, size). If needed, prompt by asking them to consider some of the physical differences noticed between themselves and their classmates.
4. Divide students into groups of 3-4 students. Distribute one set of the Beef & Dairy Commodity Cards per group, glue or tape, and two pieces of plain white paper per group.
5. Ask students to label one sheet of paper Dairy Cattle and the other sheet of paper Beef Cattle.
6. Give oral instructions. First, students should solve all of the addition problems and write the answer directly behind the "=" sign. Next, students will pair the cards with the same sum. For example, a card with the equation 4+1=5 will match with the card 3+2=5. Last, tape or glue matching boxes together to form a complete sentence strip. Tell the students to keep like colors together, red with red and blue with blue.
   • Note that the 2nd line of the cards is in black text and will be matched to make a fact statement. The third line of the cards lists a commodity that is produced by cattle. Blue text indicates a dairy product. Red text indicates a beef product.
7. Have the students glue or tape the fact strips in chronological order to the sheets of paper they labeled in step 4. All of the blue sentence strips should be taped to the paper labeled Dairy Cattle. All of the red sentence strips should be taped to the paper labeled Beef Cattle. All 8 strips for each the beef and dairy cows should fit on one piece of paper. When finished, students will have two fact sheets, one for beef cows and the other for dairy cows.
8. Ask each group of students to stand and read one sentence strip from both beef and dairy fact sheets.
9. For more understanding ask students the following questions after they have read their beef and dairy fact: "Why do you think its important for farmers to care for their cows? What would happen if farmers didn't raise beef or dairy cows? What products that come from beef and dairy cows do you think are the most important?" "Do farmers raise crops only to feed their beef and dairy cows?" "Are some crops grown for both humans and animals to eat?"
10. In conclusion, have each group work collaboratively to read and answer the 10 questions on the Beef and Dairy Quiz. Discuss responses once each group has completed the quiz.

Activity 2:

1. Break the students into two groups.
2. Pass out a Beef and Dairy Ballot to each student. Ask each student to vote for their favorite food provided by beef cattle on Ballot A. Then, follow the same procedure to vote for their favorite dairy food on Ballot B.
3. Have each group count their votes and create a tally chart to record how many students chose each beef or dairy product from the ballot.
4. Groups will then use this data to create a bar graph showing the number of votes each beef or dairy product received.
5. The bar graphs should be drawn on large size sheets of chart paper and each hung on opposite walls of the classroom.
6. Provide each group with sticky notes.
7. Have each group examine the bar graph drawn by the opposite group. Each student in each group will create at least two problems per student that are simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in the bar graph.
8. Students will record their problems on the sticky notes and place them on the bar graph.
9. Once each group has placed the problems on the chart paper from the opposite group, have them return to their original chart paper and begin solving the problems.
10. Have each student in each group pull down two problems (sticky notes) from the chart paper and solve.
11. Select a few of the problems from each group and determine if the problem has been solved correctly.
12. Ask students:
    • Why is a bar graph more useful than a pictograph for this data?
    • What kind of statements can we make about the data that was collected?
    • Which dairy product was favored the most and least?
    • Why do you think this product was liked/disliked by the majority of the class?
    • Which beef product was favored the most and least?
    • Why do you think this product was liked/disliked by the majority of the class?
13. In conclusion, have the students refer to the KWL chart created at the beginning of the lesson. Fill in the last column by asking the following questions:
    • What products do we eat that come from beef cattle?
    • What products do we eat that come from dairy cattle?
    • What new information did you learn about beef cattle?
    • What new information did you learn about dairy cattle?

      Teach with Clarity Although cattle on dairy farms are raised primarily for milk, the contribution of beef from dairy breeds is important to the beef industry. About 20% of U.S. commercial beef production comes from dairy cows.1 Many dairy farms implement beef cross breeding into their breeding programs to yield a higher-value calf.